Destruction Mini-Con Team

This article is about the Mini-Con Team. For the Bruticus Maximus combiner team, see Destruction Team.

We hate EVERYBODY.

The Destruction Mini-Con Team do not play well with others. Though their destructive capabilities land them in the hands of the Decepticons more often than not, they despise all Bulks, and are fierce in their goal of Mini-Con independence. So fierce that they are willing to sacrifice anyone, even their own, for their goal.

They are also sometimes known as the Road Wrecker Team.

The Destruction Mini-Con Team is composed of...

• Buzzsaw the bucket-wheel excavator.
• Drill Bit the tunneling machine.
• Dualor the Gepard anti-aircraft tank.

Fiction

Armada cartoon

The Destruction team acted as a full team for the first time in a plan set up by Megatron. They sent a signal to the Earth-bound Mini-Cons and later helped Megatron lead the Autobots on a chase while teleporting. They fired at Optimus Prime until a decided moment and then turned their attack on Megatron, defecting to the Autobot side. Vow

Dreamwave Armada comic

Drill Bit and the rest of the Destruction Team appeared to have been among the many Mini-Cons that were captured, experimented on, and enslaved by the Decepticons during the attack on Cyber City, and as such didn't get to evacuate Cybertron alongside most other Mini-Cons. Armada #2 Thankfully, this wasn't really the case, as they were on the escape vessel when it crashed on Earth's moon. Led by Dualor, the Mini-Cons on the Moon constructed a fortress base where they could live in peace, then summoned the Mini-Cons on Earth to join them. Armada #9 To deter the Autobots from trying to rescue their friends, they stuffed Rad White into an orbital mine to keep them from attacking the moonbase. While overseeing the defenses during the Decepticons' inevitable assault, Leader-1 suddenly attacked them. Armada #10 The Destruction Team were knocked unconscious and were helpless to resist when Megatron showed up and captured them. Armada #11

The Destruction Team didn't give up so easily, though. By activating a failsafe program, they overloaded the Decepticons with power and saved themselves from being used against their will. This allowed Dualor to strike a deal with Megatron: They'd lend the Decepticons their strength in exchange for some degree of leadership. Megatron accepted and handed them to Cyclonus, whom they promptly drove insane with power anyway. Fire & Ice Megatron mused that he knew that the Mini-Cons would betray him, then retrieved them alongside the unconscious Cyclonus. Armada #13

The Destruction Team were subsequently punished via Punishment Cube. Worlds Collide, Part 1 of 4 They were not among the Decepticon-held Mini-Cons released to join the fight against Unicron. Megatron was vague on their fate, simply saying that the Decepticons were "better off without them". The End

Toys

Armada

• Destruction Mini-Con Team (Basic, 2002/2003)
  • Takara ID number: MM-04
  • Takara release date: December 26 2002

• Known designers: Yuichiro Hira (Takara)

The Destruction Mini-Con Team (Buzzsaw, Drill Bit, and Dualor) are a trio of tiny vehicles intended to, well, destroy stuff. As Mini-Cons, each one has a Powerlinx socket that allows them to attach to larger toys with compatible plugs, activating play gimmicks on "live" plugs. Each toy also features a gear-wheel system that causes their built-in weapon to "activate" when they roll in vehicle mode. They can also be attached to the underside of the Armada Cyclonus mold, interacting with the Decepticon’s gear-wheel rotor system so their action gimmick moves as Cyclonus's rotor-trigger is pulled.

This version of the Team was nominally available as a three-pack, sold in the second wave of Hasbro's Armada line, and in the first wave of Takara's Legend of the Microns line. The Hasbro three-pack may have been added to various probably-randomized "Bonus Buy" sets clamshelled with other toys in the line sold through various retailers; we say "may have been" because there were a lot of these clamshelled sets but we have not yet confirmed samples with the Destruction Team specifically.

This mold-set was also used to make the Megalo Microns and the Exploration Mini-Con Team.

• Sandstorm & Destruction Micron (Multi-pack, 2002)
  • ID number: MS-04
  • Release date: December 26 2002

The entire Team was also included in a Takara multi-pack with Cyclonus and his partner Mini-Con Crumplezone. Each toy is identical to their individual Takara releases.

• Destruction Micron Exdimensions (Basic, 2003)
  • ID number: MM-09
  • Release date: December 26 2002

A somewhat more limited-edition—but still regular retail—redeco of the Destruction Team was released by Takara as part of the Exdimensions series. This version of the team was decoed in primarily orange with varying shades of desaturated blue.

The packaging is nearly identical to the original Takara three-pack, showing the Team in their original colors in both art and photography; the Team name is now in silver foil and marked with "Exdimensions" (エクスディメンションズ Ekusudimenshonzu) underneath.

This deco was repurposed as the Heavy Machinery Mini-Con Team.

Duster Undergrove Edition

• Crush Undergrove Edition (Promotional Mini-Con, 2003)
• Duster Undergrove Edition (Promotional Mini-Con, 2003)
• Wheel Undergrove Edition (Promotional Mini-Con, 2003)
  • Release date: January 1 2003

Exclusive to Ito Yokaido stores in Japan, one member of the "Undergrove Edition" Destruction Team was given at random as a promotional giveaway to customers who bought MC-01 Convoy Super Mode throughout January (until they ran out of them), though reportedly some stores gave one away with any Legends of the Microns purchase. This iteration of the Team was cast in various earth tones.

"Undergrove Edition" was not on the instructions packed in with the toys; the name was ultimately revealed in the "Micron Museum" portion of Takara's Legends of the Microns website on July 18th that year.

Buzzsaw White Micron

• Crush White Micron (Promotional Mini-Con, 2003)
• Duster White Micron (Promotional Mini-Con, 2003)
• Wheel White Micron (Promotional Mini-Con, 2003)
  • Release date: April 26 2003

As part of the "Golden Week" holiday, Japanese "TF Station" affiliate stores gave out solid-white versions of the Destruction Team at a limit of one per customer.

In some stores, these pieces were given out with the intent of being used in "paint your own" in-store events.

Stupid expensive. And we do mean stupid.

• Crush Space Galaxy Edition (Mini-Con pack-in, 2003)
• Duster Space Galaxy Edition (Mini-Con pack-in, 2003)
• Wheel Space Galaxy Edition (Mini-Con pack-in, 2003)
  • Release date: May 1 2003

In May, JUSCO stores in Japan got in special versions of Convoy Super Mode that contained one member of the "Space Galaxy Edition" Destruction Team per box... but the bonus Mini-Cons were blind-packed inside the boxes.

Yes, you read that correctly. Blind-packed inside the most expensive toy in the line (at the time).

As such, this version of the Team is among the most expensive of the promotional Mini-Cons on the secondary market.

• Road Wrecker Mini-Con Team (Basic, 2003)

Released in the sixth wave of Armada Mini-Con three-packs, a green-and-gray redeco of the Destruction Team was put out under a new Team name, but as the same individual characters.

This set was released under the Unicron Battles branding, hyping up the release of the giant Unicron toy.

• Predacon with Side Burn and Skid-Z (Bonus Buy pack, 2003)

The entire Team, in their original colors, was included in a "Bonus Buy" set, in a small bubble added to the top of the normal Predacon box, sold for the price of Predacon alone.

It is currently unknown what retailer this set was sold through.

• Blurr with Incinerator and Bonus Mini-Con (Bonus pack, 2003)
• Sideways with Rook & Crosswise and Bonus Mini-Con (Bonus pack, 2003)
  • Release date: November 28 2003

In November of 2003, US Toys"R"Us stores had special bonus pack Max-Con (Deluxe) toys, which came with a single bonus Mini-Con attached to the card over their sticker, for less than the price as a normal Max-Con during Toys"R"Us's post-Thanksgiving-day sale. Each of the original-color Destruction Team Mini-Cons could come packaged with either Blurr or Sideways.

Energon

• Road Wrecker Mini-Con Team & Night Attack Mini-Con Team

An unaltered version of the original-deco Destruction Team, yet still called by the "Road Wrecker" name, was released as part of an Energon-series "Mini-Con 6-pack" with the Night Attack Mini-Con Team.

This pack was a shared exclusive to both Toys"R"Us and Walmart stores in the US.

Notes

• A team of miscolored Mini-Cons based on the Destruction Team in the first two issues of Dreamwave's Armada comic is apparently not the real Destruction Team; this trio was left behind on Cybertron when everyone else escaped, and never seen again.

• Simon Furman has said in the letters page of "Multiplicity, Pt. 3" that it can be assumed that Megatron strapped the Destruction Team to a rocket and fired them into the sun, in regards to their ambiguous fate in the Armada comic.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Destruction Micron (デストラクションマイクロン Desutorakushon Maikuron)
• French: Équipe de Destruction des Minimodus ("Destruction Mini-Con Team"), Équipe de Démolition Routière des Minimodus ("Road Demolition Mini-Con Team")
• Spanish: Los Minimodus - Equipo de Destrucción ("The Mini-Cons - Destruction Team"), Los Minimodus - Equipo Demoledor Terrestre ("The Mini-Cons - Ground Demolishing Team")